LOGINShare
The Dome
publish date:
2026-10-12 00:04:43
Latest chapter
RIVAL FOUNDATIONS What Comes Next
The Ambrose Theatre's grand reopening, delayed by nearly a year from its original ambitious timeline, finally arrived on a crisp autumn evening nearly two years after Sienna had first read Ashworth's invitation email, the theatre's restored facade glowing warm against the London dusk as invited guests began arriving for what the local press had already begun calling one of the city's most significant preservation triumphs in decades.Sienna stood in the theatre's grand lobby, considerably more composed than she'd felt at either the Whitmore's or Millbrook's own openings, though the particular satisfaction of watching this extraordinary building finally return to public life carried its own unique weight, the culmination of the most ambitious professional undertaking of her entire career."You should be incredibly proud," Ashworth told her, finding her near the entrance as the first guests began filtering through the restored doors. "I've sat on preservation boards for over three decad
RIVAL FOUNDATIONS The Dome
The Ambrose's dome restoration reached its most delicate phase nearly eight months into the project, the specialist gilding team finally beginning the painstaking work of restoring the theatre's elaborate painted allegorical figures, and Sienna found herself spending increasing hours perched on scaffolding high above the theatre floor, studying details invisible from the ground with the same careful, exacting attention her father had once brought to the Alderman Building decades earlier."It's extraordinary work," Ashworth told her, during one of his regular visits to check on progress, both of them craning their necks to examine the restoration team's painstaking recreation of a faded, water damaged figure representing Comedy, one of the theatre's original nine allegorical muses. "I don't think I fully appreciated the scale of skill this required until watching it happen in person.""Neither did I, honestly," Sienna admitted. "I've restored elaborate plasterwork before, but nothing a
RIVAL FOUNDATIONS Dry Rot
The Ambrose's restoration hit its first genuine crisis three months into the project, when Foster, who had flown over for an extended consultation on the building's structural challenges, discovered evidence of dry rot considerably more extensive than the original structural survey had indicated, threatening to push the project's timeline and budget well beyond what Ashworth's board had originally approved."This changes things significantly," Foster told Sienna, reviewing the affected sections of the theatre's backstage support structure with the particular grim focus she'd come to associate with genuinely serious structural problems. "We're looking at considerably more extensive remediation than the original survey anticipated. I'd estimate at least four additional months, possibly longer depending on what we find once we open up the remaining walls."Sienna felt the familiar cold dread of watching a beloved project's timeline expand in ways that threatened everything carefully nego
RIVAL FOUNDATIONS Settling In
London greeted them with a gray, persistent drizzle that Sienna found, somewhat to her own surprise, immediately charming rather than discouraging, the city's damp, historic streets carrying exactly the kind of atmospheric weight she'd always associated with the great restoration projects she'd studied throughout her career.Their temporary flat, a comfortable if modestly sized apartment near Kensington that Ashworth's team had helped arrange, required several days of adjustment before it began feeling less like a hotel and more like an actual home, Rosalind's initial excitement about the adventure giving way briefly to homesickness for the loft's familiar rooms before she settled, with her characteristic resilience, into the rhythm of her new preschool and the novelty of a city considerably older than anything she'd previously encountered."There are buildings here older than the whole United States," she informed Sienna, with the particular gravity she reserved for genuinely importa
RIVAL FOUNDATIONS Departure
The weeks following the shareholder vote brought a period of genuine reflection at Cross Holdings, Damian convening a series of strategy sessions with Reyes, Nadia, and several other board members to develop exactly the kind of deliberate, sustainable framework for the foundation's continued growth that Ridgeline's uncomfortably close vote had made clear the company genuinely needed."I think we need clearer criteria," Reyes suggested, during one of these sessions, reviewing the foundation's rapidly expanding portfolio of committed projects. "Not just picking whichever worthy cause comes across our desk next, but a genuine strategic framework for which projects align most closely with both our mission and our actual capacity to execute well."Damian found himself, working through this more disciplined approach alongside his team, developing a genuine appreciation for exactly the kind of measured growth Ridgeline's challenge had inadvertently forced the company to consider more serious
RIVAL FOUNDATIONS The Vote
Ridgeline Capital's formal proposal arrived at Cross Holdings' annual shareholder meeting with considerably more sophistication than Halloran's earlier campaign had ever managed, Vanessa Kroll herself presenting a polished, data heavy case for restructuring the company's strategic direction to a room of shareholders considerably more receptive to purely financial arguments than the community focused case Damian had spent months preparing to counter it."I want to be clear that I have no objection to Cross Holdings' community engagement, in principle," Kroll said, opening her presentation with the same careful, professional framing Damian had come to recognize as activist investor standard practice. "My concern is purely about capital allocation efficiency. This company is sitting on assets and opportunities that could generate considerably higher returns if deployed more aggressively, rather than tied up in low margin preservation partnerships that primarily serve reputational rather
You May Also Like
CEO Husband's Crazy Love For His Little Wife
TSI1.5M viewsCold Showers
Symplyayisha843.9K viewsPregnant and Favored: See You in the Morning, Young Master
Miss Yu926.2K viewsThe Day I Kissed An Older Man
Cher the Cherished1.1M viewsToo Late To Win Me Back, Mr.Blackwell.
Faiza195 viewsHe Chose My Sister, So I Chose Myself
S.S Tulip166 viewsReborn: I Won’t Save Them Again
Beibe159 viewsBillionaire’s regret: You Let Me Go First
Xana Matthews135 views
